No state horticultural show 2026 for forchheim: “we are disappointed”

According to the bavarian ministry of the environment, the winning cities for the bavarian state garden shows 2024 to 2026 have been determined: kirchheim b. Munchen (2024, upper bavaria), furth im wald (2025, upper palatinate) and schweinfurt (2026, lower franconia). Environment minister marcel huber (CSU) congratulated the successful applicants: "the applicants have submitted high-quality and innovative ideas for the development of their communities. They emphasize the importance of ecological urban development, adapted to the respective local conditions. The ideas bring people and nature even closer together. Here nature is brought back to the city."

The city of forchheim had also sent in an application for the year 2026.
Mayor uwe kirschstein (SPD) had read the fax around noon, in which the city was informed that it was not enough forchheim in this application phase. "Yes, we've already been swapped", says kirschstein. But the letter also contained a lot of positive feedback. "We were told we had a lot of potential, said the mayor, who had hoped that the city of forchheim and its inner-city green spaces would be able to present themselves.

"We were also told to refine our concepts", explains kirschstein, who in the same breath congratulates the winning cities. They had obviously made better use of the limited time and presented more sophisticated concepts.

Nevertheless, the topic of a state horticultural show in forchheim is not yet off the table. "We will now take our time to refine the concept", according to kirschstein "the topic of the state garden show will therefore be back on the agenda." The starting position is nevertheless good, since the first hurdle has already been cleared. The panel of experts was also impressed with forchheim, and only time will tell what happens next.

The selected municipalities will be given the opportunity to carry out extensive changes in land and urban planning as a result of the planned garden shows, according to a press release from the ministry of the environment.

Starting in 2022, the ministry of the environment will provide funding of up to 5 million euros for state garden shows. The maximum amount of funding so far has been 3.6 million euros. The ministry of agriculture is also contributing to the costs of the project. The basis for the decision to select the garden shows was the unanimous vote of the advisory board of bayerische landesschau gmbh. The advisory board is made up of experts from the gardening trade associations, top municipal associations, architects, landscape architects and nature conservation associations, as well as from the ministries involved.